Attorney General Marc Dann was right to question the nominations of three utilities commissioners. He concluded that through the years, candidates for the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio have been recommended to the governor by a council that deliberated in secret, in violation of state law. 

Dann, a Democrat, should be commended for enforcing the Open Meetings Act, which often has been ignored deliberately or inadvertently by public bodies. Thomas C. Green, chairman of the PUCO nominating council, stressed that his 12-member group did not intend to break the law. 

The three PUCO members agreed to Dann’s request. Gov. Ted Strickland should reappoint them. The process should be corrected, but it should not be a device to change the board’s membership. 

Chairman Alan R. Schriber, Ronda Hartman Fergus and Valerie A. Lemmie were right to comply with Dann’s request. All three were appointed by Gov. Bob Taft. 

Consumer activists believe the fivemember PUCO favors utilities to the disadvantage of consumers. Whether that’s true is not the point. This technicality should not be an opening for Democrats to make the commission more to their liking. 

Dann makes clear that the violations taint the nominating process, not the performance of the PUCO members. None of their regulatory decisions over the past few years is being questioned. 

The act, known as the Sunshine Law, requires that public boards and commissions meet in public during the deliberative process leading up to official votes. Dann raised similar concerns about meetings of the Ohio State University board of trustees. 

The nominating council recommends four choices for PUCO vacancies. Gov. Ted Strickland’s first PUCO appointment, of Paul Centolella, will be redone because of the tainted process. Centolella is to replace Judy Jones. The fifth member is Donald L. Mason, whose appointment by Taft in 2003 is beyond the three-year statute of limitations to challenge appointments. 

Spokesman Keith Dailey said Strickland "is inclined to reappoint the current board" when the nominating process is repeated. That would be wise. Dann’s decision needs to be viewed as a legitimate enforcement of the Sunshine Law, not as a partisan attempt to change the PUCO.